Rumor: Sony to release a Qualcomm S4 based Android superphone in June

Last week at Mobile World Congress Sony announced a handful of new Android smartphones that sadly run Android Gingerbread instead of Ice Cream Sandwich. The highest end product in their new portfolio, the Xperia S, has a 4.3 inch 720p display, which is awesome, but it’s powered by the year old Qualcomm S3 processor. Today we’ve learned that Sony is planning to release a new, ultra high end smartphone in June of this year that has Qualcomm’s new S4 processor inside. What’s the difference between the S3 and S4? Too many to list, but here’s a summary: much better battery life, built-in 4G LTE, and insane performance. The folks at Unwired View think this as yet to be announced device is codenamed the LT29i Hayabusa. The Xperia S we mentioned earlier, that’s codenamed the LT26i, so LT29i obviously means better, faster, stronger.

The bigger question here is why the hell did Sony announce the Xperia S when they’re going to obsolete it just a few short months after it comes out? The rumor goes on to say that Japan and South Korea will see the LT29i first, so we don’t exactly know if it’ll ever be made available outside Asia, but something tells us that it will. What other specs are we aware of besides a 1.5 GHz dual core S4 Snapdragon? There’s a 720p HD display of an unknown size … and that’s it. Feel free to speculate away!

Vlad Savov from The Vergerecently reviewed the Xperia S and came to the conclusion that while it’s pretty, it’s lacking when compared to everything else that’s soon going to be on the market. We’re in full agreement and recommend that you keep your wallet shut until the Hayabusa comes out.